U.S. Employee Engagement Stable in October

by Amy Adkins

Story Highlights

Engagement unmoved over past eight months

Monthly averages have not fallen below 31% since 2014

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In October, the percentage of U.S. workers that Gallup considers engaged in their jobs averaged 32.1%. Monthly employee engagement readings have been nearly unchanged since March of this year.

The October 2015 estimate is based on Gallup Daily tracking interviews conducted with 7,273 adults working for an employer. Gallup categorizes workers as "engaged" based on their ratings of key workplace elements -- such as having an opportunity to do what they do best each day, having someone at work who encourages their development and believing their opinions count at work -- that predict important organizational performance outcomes.

Engaged employees are involved in, enthusiastic about and committed to their work. Gallup's extensive research shows that employee engagement is strongly connected to business outcomes essential to an organization's financial success, such as productivity, profitability and customer engagement. Engaged employees drive the innovation, growth and revenue that their companies need.

Bottom Line

Employee engagement is experiencing the longest period of stability since Gallup first began its daily survey of U.S. workplace engagement in January 2011. Monthly averages from March onward have scarcely moved up or down. Although monthly readings typically do not experience great fluctuations, they do tend to waver more than they have this year.

The current employee engagement readings are also among the better readings on record since 2011. Engagement has not fallen below 31% thus far this year, while it has been common to see monthly averages consistently drop under that figure in the past. Overall, the recent employee engagement metric has been higher throughout 2015 than it was from 2011-2013. And if the stability above 31% continues in November and December, the 2015 average will also come out slightly ahead of the full-year 2014 average of 31.5%. The current year-to-date average is 31.9%.

While the majority of the U.S. workforce is not engaged at work, Gallup has found organizations that perform well above the norm. These organizations -- the winners of the 2015 Gallup Great Workplace Award -- have engagement levels double that of the national average. On average, 64% of their employees are engaged. They also average nine engaged employees for every one actively disengaged employee, compared with the U.S. average of two engaged employees for every one actively disengaged employee.

Survey Results

Results for this Gallup poll are based on telephone interviews conducted Oct. 1-31, 2015, on the Gallup U.S. Daily survey, with a random sample of 7,273 U.S. adults employed full or part time for an employer, aged 18 and older, living in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. For results based on the total sample of employed adults, the margin of sampling error is ±1.8 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. All reported margins of sampling error include computed design effects for weighting.

Each sample of national adults includes a minimum quota of 60% cellphone respondents and 40% landline respondents, with additional minimum quotas by time zone within region. Landline and cellular telephone numbers are selected using random-digit-dial methods.